Famed Longhorn Martin passes away

Texas hall of famer was part of team's 1946-47 Final Four run

HOUSTON -- Slater Martin, the Hall of Fame guard who won four NBA titles with the Minneapolis Lakers and one with the St. Louis Hawks, died Thursday. He was 86.

Martin died at a skilled nursing facility in Houston after a sudden illness, daughter-in-law Becky Martin said. She said he was admitted to the nursing home Monday.

Martin enrolled at Texas in the fall of 1943 and played four varsity games as a freshman. He went into military service in January 1944, and rejoined the Longhorns for the 1946-47 Final Four run that ended with a third-place finish. In his next-to-last game at Texas, he set a school record with 49 points in an 81-60 victory against TCU on Feb. 26, 1949.

Martin was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1982. He went into the University of Texas' Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1962, entered the Texas Sports Hall of Fame in 1964 and the school retired his No. 15 in 2009.

"He was a tremendous ballhandler, a great competitor and had a tremendous sense of humor," former Hawks radio announcer Skip Erwin said Thursday. "He was 5-10. When he would play against Bob Cousy of the Boston Celtics, it would look like you were watching two ballet dancers, because they both were so smooth.

"Also, he could have been a welterweight boxing champion because he was a tough guy."

Martin averaged 9.8 points and 4.2 assists in 745 NBA regular-season game with Minneapolis, New York and St. Louis from 1949-50 to 1959-60. He averaged 10.0 points and 3.2 assists in 92 playoff games, winning titles with Minneapolis in 1950, '52, '53 and '54 and St. Louis in 1958.

Martin played in seven All-Star games and was a five-time, second-team All-NBA selection.